After a tough conference loss, UCF eyes defensive discipline and offensive execution to reclaim momentum against Cincinnati.
No. 25 UCF (12-2, 1-1 Big 12) suffered its first conference loss against Oklahoma State Tuesday, 87-76, and coach Johnny Dawkins stressed that his team must return to form against the Cincinnati Bearcats (8-7, 1-1 Big 12) this Sunday.
Tuesday's loss saw the Knights shoot under 37.5% overall and 21.2% from three-point range, which is well below the efficient averages the team usually produced nightly. However, Dawkins is worried more about his squad's defensive performance.
"We have to get back to doing what we've done well throughout the season, and that's defending and rebounding the basketball," Dawkins said. "And so our emphasis was on that side of it and just our overall execution."
The Cowboys shot 47% from the field and 53% from beyond the arc, nailing 10-of-19 threes. Forward Parsa Fallah led his team in scoring with 24 points and played a significant role in their run to enter the half up 41-32.
UCF clawed itself back into the game in the second half with a 44-point outing, and the team cut the deficit to one, but sending Oklahoma State to the free-throw line 35 times proved too much to overcome.
"I didn't think our effort was overall that bad," Dawkins said. "I thought we had better moments. We didn't sustain our effort. It's something that we've talked about as a team. We didn't sustain it, but we had good moments there. I look at a lot of different statistical categories. We did well in the majority of them, except for putting them on the line 35 times. They took 35 free throws, and that was a big part of it. And we didn't guard the three very well."
The Knights are hosting the Bearcats at the Addition Financial Arena and face off against ex-Knights center Moustapha Thiam and ex-assistant coach Mamadou N'Diaye.
Last season's series was split 1-1, with Cincinnati winning the first outing 81-75 and UCF stealing the second 88-80 in the College Basketball Crown Quarterfinals. The Bearcats have struggled this season, presenting Dawkins and his squad the opportunity to round back into form.
"We need to be more disciplined defensively," Dawkins said. "It starts there. Whenever you're putting yourself in those compromising positions defensively when you're picking up fouls, it usually has something to do with your discipline. You need to stay true to what the game plan is: defend hard, but you can't foul and that's just the nature of our sport. I thought early in the season we were doing that a bit much. We had gotten better, and it looked like we kind of reverted back in our last game."
UCF aims to get back in the win column and maintain its No. 25 ranking Sunday at 5 p.m., and the third conference matchup of the season will be televised on ESPN2.